What Leadership Development Opportunities Does the Florence Nightingale Foundation Offer?

The Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF) offers leadership development opportunities, membership and ongoing support for nurses and midwives, with the stated aim of enabling them to "stay, thrive, lead and transform health and care." Its work is described as operating across the UK and globally, building on Florence Nightingale's legacy by helping nurses and midwives become "strong, influential and confident leaders." If you are a nurse or midwife looking for structured leadership development, professional membership, or a route into policy influence, the FNF site organises these under four main areas: Leadership, Impact, Policy & Influence, and Support Us.

Leadership development opportunities

The Leadership section is the starting point for anyone asking what FNF actually provides. The site describes this area as covering "leadership development opportunities, membership and support offered by FNF." In practice, that means three connected strands:

• Leadership programmes – structured development for nurses and midwives who want to lead.
• Scholarships – the site's own description of its work refers to "programmes, scholarships, policy influence, membership and support," so scholarships sit alongside programmes as a distinct offer.
• Membership and ongoing support – framed as continuing support rather than a one-off course.

The stated purpose across all of these is to help nurses and midwives "stay, thrive, lead and transform health and care" — that is, the offer is aimed both at individual career development and at improving services.

Policy influence and impact

Two further areas sit alongside leadership development and are worth knowing about if your interest is broader than a single programme:

The Policy & Influence area is the route for nurses and midwives who want to shape health and care issues rather than only develop their own leadership skills. The Impact area is where FNF publishes evidence of what its work is achieving — useful if you want to judge the organisation's track record before applying or getting involved.

How to explore the opportunities

The site is organised so you can go straight to the area that matches your interest:

1. Go to the Leadership section if you want programmes, scholarships, membership or support. The site's own call to action is "Explore the leadership development opportunities, membership and support offered by FNF."
2. Check Impact to see reported outcomes of FNF's work on the professions and on health and care.
3. Check Policy & Influence if you want to engage with the Think Tank on nursing and midwifery issues.
4. Sign up to the newsletter — the site's "Stay updated!" section says it will keep you informed of FNF's progress and "how you can become part of the transformation." This is the practical way to hear about new programmes and opportunities as they open.

Who this is for

FNF describes itself as a charity working across the UK and globally, and its audience is specifically nurses and midwives. The framing throughout is about developing leaders within those professions, not general leadership training. If you are a nurse or midwife wanting to move into or strengthen a leadership role, or to bring a nursing and midwifery perspective into policy debates, the Leadership and Policy & Influence areas are the relevant ones.

One thing the available site information does not specify is cost, eligibility criteria, or application deadlines for individual programmes and scholarships. Those details are not stated in the material summarised here, so check the relevant programme pages directly before planning an application.